A tale of two Sisters
by Thaedys
Summary: Just one sane family member... is that too much to ask? Monkey D. Garp was sure that he was cursed. His kids were all a mess and now he has to deal with an unruly granddaughter and her pirate half-sister. At least this one would be a great Marine, he vowed. He would turn Yang into the best Marine the world has ever seen... or cry trying. The world will never be the same again...
1. A hero and a baby

**Disclaimer: RWBY and One Piece are the property of their respective owners and I do not make any profit by writing this story.**

 **Now that the legal stuff is done, let's talk business. This story has been a request from a friend of mine here on FF, who is currently unable to write and wants some new story ideas on this site. So I did her the favor and well... see for yourself.  
**

 **The basic setup for the story is very simple. Remnant is an Archipelago in the South Blue, so it's all part of the greater One Piece world. The events that lead to the four main characters of RWBY meeting are quite different this time, which will be explained in due time. Whereas RWBY sets out to the sea as a pirate seeking adventure and fighting the corrupt World Government, Yang ended up with the Marines...**

 **Telling anything else would spoil too much, so I shut up now. Have fun with the first, short chapter.**

* * *

In his many years as a Marine, Vice-Admiral Monkey D. Garp had seen a lot. Not all there is to see, but enough that he felt confident enough to say that nothing could surprise him at this point in his life. Oh, how wrong he was with that assumption.

At that very moment, the so-called Hero of the Marines stared at the bundle in his arms with wide eyes, his mind blank and posture rigid. He was completely at loss, not knowing what to do or what to think.

The woman before him, who had given him the bundle watched with a look of utter annoyance, as she waited for him to react to what she had told him before. But the reaction seemed delayed, for obvious reasons.

"What... why?"

"Pah," the woman spat, "Why am I the one getting punished with a family of idiots? It's a baby, old fool."

"I can see that, Raven. Whose baby is this? What have you done now?" Garp demanded, his eyes fixed on the sleeping babe in his arms.

Such a tiny little human being. So innocent and pure. He was afraid that he would crush the child, with all his unrestrained strength. He wasn't used to handling things with care...

"That's my daughter. Your granddaughter. I've named her Yang," Raven told him.

She kept her distance from him and the child. The moment she had placed the child in his arms was the first time she had actually touched him in more than a decade. Even now she seemed to fear that he would either lash out again or worse, latch onto her and force her to stay. As if he could do such a thing with a baby in his arms.

"Granddaughter..." Garp muttered.

He watched the sleeping girl with a new kind of fascination. His granddaughter... his daughter's daughter... Somewhere along those last thoughts, his brain short-circuited and his eyes found Raven once more.

She had taken some more steps away from him. Getting further out of reach. For a good reason. Estranged or not, the idea that someone had touched his daughter still made him angry. Garp was well aware that Raven would not tolerate his interference in her life. She had made that clear when she had run away as a child, never to be found unless she wants to be found.

"Try not to break her. I know you are only good at breaking things, but at least try to keep one family member whole," Raven growled.

"Don't you dare to blame me for your own decisions!" Garp bellowed back, ignorant of the fact that he had a sleeping child in his arms. Said child did not like the sudden commotion and began wailing loudly. "Oh, no, no, no. Don't cry, Yang. Grandpa Garp is not going to let anything or anyone hurt you. Nothing bad is here, nothing bad." He tried to sooth the baby and began bouncing her up and down. She didn't like that either and wailed even louder than before.

"Damn old man, can't you do anything right? No wonder my brothers and I are so messed up," Raven barked at him. "Stop manhandling her like you would one of your subordinates. She is a baby, not pineapple."

"I..." Garp was at loss. "What am I supposed to do with your daughter?"

Just why was Raven here with her child? She had not tried to contact him since the day her mother had died, the day she had set sail to the other end of the world to be away from him. Garp had a feeling that this wasn't really a social call. No, this wasn't an attempt to reconnect... but that could mean that...

"She's your problem now. Do with her as you please," Raven shot back, "I neither have the time nor the patience for her."

"You would abandon your own daughter?" Garp exclaimed, feeling aghast by his daughter's cold-hearted plan. He wasn't exactly father of the year material either, but he had never willingly left any of his kids alone. They all left him at one point in time, but it was never him to walk away first.

"I'm leaving her with you. Try your best this time, you have already failed thrice, maybe four is your lucky number," Raven said, as she turned away from her father and began to walk away.

"And what will you do?" Garp demanded to know.

Raven stopped for a moment but didn't look back as she answered, "What I always do. I'm a pirate after all."

Garp began to hurry after her, intent to stop her from fleeing again. Now he still had a chance to keep her with him, to make things right again. With her daughter, he might even be able to convince Sengoku to help him. Together they would find a way to remove Raven from the Marine's shit list. But should she abandon her child and walk away, not even he would be able to change her fate.

But Raven had never been one to be caught. Not by him, not by anyone else. A great many Marines and other pirates had tried. None had succeeded. Even now she quickly disappeared, leaving her father alone with his infant grandchild.

Yang continued to wail the entire time, as Garp just stood there, in the middle of nowhere. This was definitely not what he had expected to happen when he woke up this morning. He had expected trouble yes. What else was he supposed to expect, after finding a message pinned to the door of his cabin with the very dagger he had given his daughter for self-defense when she had been a child? But this... he suddenly felt so much older, just by knowing that he was a grandfather now.

Garp sigh worriedly. A baby... what was he supposed to do with a baby? Maybe leave her Dadan and her bandits. Surely little Ace would appreciate a companion while growing up... But somehow the idea of a girl being left in the care of bandits did not sit entirely right with him. Maybe there would be someone in the nearby village instead? She could go and visit Ace once she is a bit older and he could train them together. He would make some fine Marines out of them.

"What the hell am I going to do with you?" he wondered loudly, as he looked at Yang.

The little girl had settled down again, her previous agitation completely forgotten now. Instead, the girl looked at him wide-eyed. Lilac eyes... she must have gotten her coloring from her father. But the face was all Raven... well at least compared to what he remembered of his daughter's earliest days.

"Hm... let's get you back to my ship for now. You must be hungry, I sure am," Garp mumbled. But it was then that he realized that he had no idea what babies eat. A battleship was surely not equipped with what a baby would need... Oh well, he would let Bogard deal with that problem. His right-hand-man had always been good at dealing with Garp related problems.

As the Vice-Admiral arrived back on his ship, his men watched their commander with great curiosity. While it wasn't uncommon for Garp to leave for days at a time, they had rarely seen him jump off the ship in such a hurry before.

And now he was back, but he wasn't alone. Every Marine on the ship was used to the admiral's antics by now, but when Garp the Fist returns from a seemingly abandoned island with a baby in his arms, even the most disinterested Marine starts asking questions.

The Vice-Admiral's right-hand-man, Captain Bogard, was the only one who dared to voice his question, though.

"Sir... where did you find that baby?" the captain asked.

Garp looked at Bogard than at his granddaughter, before a huge grin spread on his face.

"This, Bogard, is my granddaughter."

"Granddaughter, sir? A grandchild like... the other one?" Bogard dared not say Ace's name. He was one of the few who knew about the boy, who knew that Garp kept a child hidden that the Marines and the World Government would kill in a heartbeat for the evil deeds of the child's father.

"No, Bogard, this is my own flesh and blood. My little Yang!" Garp announced proudly.

The other Marines on deck started muttering among themselves, shocked to hear that their monstrous admiral apparently had a child and now a grandchild to follow in his footsteps. All those who had been on the receiving end of Garp's temper shuddered in fear.

"Go and see if we have anything for Yang to eat, Bogard. And set sail for an island with a big enough city. We need to get supplies for Yang!"

"As you say, sir," Bogard replied, "But there is one matter that requires your attention first."

"No, Bogard, my granddaughter is the most important..." he stopped when he felt something pull at the pants of his suit. "Oh no." When he looked down, he saw a small white goat trying to chew on the leg of his pants, oblivious to who was currently wearing said pants.

But it wasn't the goat that bothered Garp the most. It was his own lack of attention. As he looked towards the other side of the ship, he saw that he was no longer alone. Next, to his own, there was a small fleet of other Marine vessels. And he knew exactly under whose command those ships sail...

"Garp! It's about time that you get back, we have important things to discuss!"

A man came out of a nearby door and stepped onto the deck of Garp's ship. Dressed immaculately, with his Justice Coat hanging limply over his shoulders, Admiral Sengoku came into view.

Garp mumbled some curses as he saw the man. Usually, he would welcome a chat with his old friend. Rile him up a bit and all that. But this had to be the worst timing ever. Garp really didn't want the higher-ups in the Marines to know about his granddaughter just yet.

The lower ranking Marines, who had been eavesdropping the entire time began to scramble, busy to get away from the Admiral as quickly as they could. Some nearly fell off the ship, as they attempted to look as busy as possible.

"What is the meaning of this, Garp?" Sengoku bellowed as he saw the child in friend's arms.

"This is a baby," Garp replied drily, "You know how they are made, I'm sure."

"Of course I do," Sengoku replied heatedly. "Just where did you get a child from?"

Garp sighed, "Why is everyone asking the same questions today?"

"Garp!"

Garp held Yang in front of him, presenting her to the Admiral like a shield.

"Yang, meet Admiral Sengoku. Sengoku, meet my little Yang."

Sengoku was at loss for words, as he stared at the child in front of him. It took him a moment to process what Garp had just said.

"You've had another child? After what had happened with your other three?" Sengoku said. The mere idea seemed to shock him.

Had he not been holding Yang at that moment, Garp would have obviously taken offense and done something about the insulting tone of his friend's exclamation. But with his hand's bound, he just answered.

"This is my granddaughter!"

"Granddaughter... which one of your troublesome children managed to procreate? The terrorist, the drunk or the pirate?"

"She's Raven's daughter!"

He really didn't like the tone of this conversation and he was just about to hand Yang over to Bogard to dish out some much-needed justice by himself.

Garp was well aware that all three of his children were less than perfect. Raven had just proven this by abandoning her daughter. But that didn't mean that Garp loved them any less.

"This is a nightmare and you know it. Fleet Admiral Kong will not be happy about this at all. Raven's bounty has just been doubled after she robbed one of the Celestial Dragons! And now she has a child!"

"No one will touch my Yang," Garp declared hotly.

Sengoku shook his head, as he took a step closer, to inspect Yang more closely. But the little girl took this as an obvious invitation to grab the Admiral's long beard and pull as hard as she could. Sengoku howled in surprise.

Garp laughed loudly, as he watched his granddaughter's antics. Not even out of her diapers and she was already a natural at annoying Sengoku. This has to be a family trait!

"Garp, tell her to stop!" Sengoku demanded.

Garp didn't react at first, but Bogard was quick to help the Admiral out. But even the Captain needed a bit of time to lure the child's attention away from Sengoku's beard.

"You know that I have to report this to the Fleet Admiral?" Sengoku said, increased his distance from Yang. "But it is up to you what I will tell him. I owe you that much, I guess."

"Tell him... tell Kong that Vice-Admiral Monkey D. Garp will be unavailable for long-term missions in the near future. Tell him that I will raise my granddaughter myself and turn her into the best Marine this world has ever seen. She will not follow her mother's path."

Sengoku nodded, somewhat satisfied with this answer. Maybe it would even mollify the Fleet Admiral. If not... well they would find a way to make this happen

* * *

 **Note:**

 **That should be enough for an introduction. So for this story, we assume that Garp actually had more children than just Dragon. As the father of Qrow and Raven, Garp obviously has a problem with raising his own kids. A pirate, a revolutionary and a drunk... But he has another chance. A granddaughter to raise. And he has no choice but to raise her himself. With Sengoku knowing about her, he can't hide her away like he did with Ace and Luffy. The World Government has a habit of blaming the parents' crimes on the children, so he has to keep Yang close to keep her safe from the fallout of Raven's shenanigans.**

 **I chose Yang as Garp's grandchild exactly because of her troubled family background, which seems to fit better with Garp's current family. Ruby's mom seemed a bit too tame and good to be an offspring of Garp the Fist. And Garp's fighting style works better for Yang.**

 **This also makes Yang the cousin of Luffy. They will have so much fun when Yang starts hunting him. They will, of course** , **meet as children at one point.**

 **At the moment I have no plans to give either Ruby or Yang a Devil fruit. Yang especially works better as a pure Haki user, like Granpa Garp. If I find a Devil fruit that would work well with Ruby, though, I might consider giving her some special abilities.**

 **Other RWBY characts will join either of the sisters, but neither of them will join Luffy's crew.**

 **I want to be really honest here, I haven't really been an RWBY fan before writing this story. I actually had to binge-watch it with my friend to see it all for myself. My honest opinion here is that the show would have worked better as just a comedy show, the way RWBY Chibi does it. The dramedy attempt doesn't really work that well after the third season, but that's just my opinion. But thankfully, my focus will be on the One Piece world.**


	2. Island Adventure

**Hey there. Sorry, it took me this long to write a second chapter, I kind of got lost on the road of life and all that...**  
 **First to answer some of the questions about the story.**  
 **\- Yes, there will be mecha-shifting weapons, just look at how crazy Franky has become, these weapons would surely have their place in this world.**  
 **\- Yang and Ruby will not have Devil Fruits. Yang is Garp's granddaughter and has been trained by him, so Haki and raw power are her strengths.**  
 **\- Yang will be a bit different, especially at the beginning because she has grown up without Ruby. Garp is rubbing off on her as well, so there issues with following orders and such... poor Sengoku...**

* * *

"Stop right there!" a Marine yelled, as he spotted the golden-haired child he and his fellow sailors were after. "This ends now, Yang!"

The men were quick in their attempt to cut the girl off before she would get another chance to run off and disappear. They were still on a ship, of course, and there weren't that many places for her to hide, but somehow the eight-year-old nearly always managed to escape the men.

Even now she was quick to evade their every attempt at grabbing her, slipping past them, even knocking some of them down if they happened to be in her way. It wasn't unusual for her to quarrel with the Marines on the ship.

Grown men, the whole lot of them, but none shied away from trying to fight her. All on the orders of their commanding officer. Vice-Admiral Garp, who saw it as his duty to train his granddaughter as much as his time would permit, gave the express order that Yang had to be groomed and trained at every waking moment, so she would become the best Marine she could be.

The men had been apprehensive of beating a young girl at first, but their fear of Garp's volatile temper more often than not forced their hands. In later years, once Yang had learned how to defend herself more properly, her ruthlessness in their fights only added to the men's growing conviction that the child had to be a demon, sent to their ship to torment them.

"She went below deck! To the mess hall!" one of the senior officers among the group yelled, as he saw Yang disappear through one of the doors on the other side of the ship.  
To Yang, all of this was just a game. Hide and seek mostly. Playing ruff whenever she got cornered or caught. With no other children on the ship, the fights with the lower ranking Marines were her only source of entertainment in between grueling long hours of lessons or the harsh training she received from her grandpa himself.

As the majority of the men disappeared in the bowels of the large battleship, the young girl they were hunting for watched them with glee. Again she had tricked them and now they were looking below, while she sat above, on top of one of the ships giant turrets.

"Gotcha!" one audacious Marine yelled, as he leaped at Yang.

Some of the men had not only seen her but also managed to sneak up on her.

Yang wasn't annoyed by this, instead, she laughed, as she jumped down from her hiding place and right onto the head of a lieutenant, who was just passing by on his patrol. The officer yelped in surprise, as the blond devil crashed into him, pushing him down to the ground. He didn't get up again, knocked out by the unexpected attack, but Yang just jumped back on her feet and ran once more.

"Stop this now, Yang!"

The girl turned around, recognizing the voice as that of Captain Bogard, her grandfather's right-hand man. He was one of her favorite people on the ship, as he would always indulge her with sweets during her otherwise boring lessons with him. But just by looking at him, she could tell that he wasn't here to give her sweets. Instead, he seemed disgruntled by her actions.

"But they started it," she said, as she stuck her tongue out at the large group of men, which had formed behind the captain. "They've been mean to me."

Bogard, being one of the few who condemned the admiral's idea of training, sent a withering glare at the men under his command. Most of them wisely refused to meet their captain's eyes, while the rest tried to sneak away and preserve the last shreds of their already battered pride.

"Don't you all look like a sorry lot. Defeated by an eight-year-old!" the captain began, "Should the Vice-Admiral hear about this, there will be consequences! Dire consequences. You've been slacking again!"

"Sir, we're sorry, Sir!" the men echoed in unison.

The Marines paled, even more, when the hulking figure of Vice-Admiral Garp appeared behind the captain. Garp had obviously just woken up from his customary afternoon nap and looked for the culprit of his rude awakening.

"What's going on here?" Garp demanded.

"Recruit Yang has been troublesome again, sir," Bogard said.

Yang frowned, feeling betrayed by Bogard's willing confession. So much for keeping her out of harm's way. She would have kicked him, had he been within reach. But he stood too close to her grandfather, so she had to stay away unless she wants to risk getting caught immediately.

"But that's not the problem. The men tried and failed to apprehend her," the captain continued.

"What! You sorry lot! Failing against my wonderful little granddaughter! That's it, all off you into the water. You will swim for a few miles and gods help you should you fail to keep up!" Garp bellowed.

Fearful, half of the men immediately jumped into the sea, to escape their admiral's wrath. A few bold ones remained on the ship, waiting for what punishment Yang would face for her part in the disturbance.

"And you!" Garp bellowed as he turned towards Yang, only to find her missing. "Where did she go?" He looked around but failed to see his granddaughter anywhere on the ship.

"She does have a talent for disappearing," Captain Bogard commented, a fond smile on his lips. "But she also has a terrible temper."

"YANG! Get back here!" Garp bellowed.

Bogard sighed, as he watched his admiral run rampant on the ship. "It certainly is a family trait..."

The Vice-Admiral continued tearing apart his ship on the search for his wayward granddaughter but found no sign of her. Only when he returned topside after another fruitless search below deck, finally someone spotted Yang.

"Captain! There is someone in the water!" the Marine in the Crow's Nest yelled.

"Of course there are, you daft idiot," Garp bellowed, "half of the crew is swimming right now!"

"Starboard, sir, starboard," the Marine clarified.

Bogard was the first at the reeling to look for what the Marine had seen. There was a small island on this side of the ship. Uninhabited and untamed. Too small to be worth anything, so it had remained unclaimed. Marine ships pass by this island on their patrols, yet they had never designed the island worth a visit. That would have to change now.

"YANG! Get back here this instant!" Garp yelled at the top of his lungs, as he spotted his granddaughter swimming towards the island.

Too bad the youngest member of their crew was not particularly good at following orders. Not that the highest ranking man on the ship was any better at it. Another family trait, Bogard noted. Adding the tough love approach and the love for fist fights, Monkey D. Garp and Monkey D. Yang are scarily similar. No wonder Fleet Admiral Kong keeps such a close eye on the girl's progress.

"After her!" the Vice-Admiral bellowed. "And don't you dare to come back without her."

Garp himself was the first to follow his granddaughter into the sea, as he followed her with an unnatural speed. He would find her, Bogard was sure of that. The only question that the captain couldn't answer was how the eventual capture would happen… and when. Garp is fast, but his lithe granddaughter is a tad bit faster still.

Yang had already reached the shores of the island, long before her grandfather was anywhere close. She grinned brightly, as she looked at the wild island before her. Finally something new. Finally something exciting. Without any care in the world, she ran further away from the beach and towards the green heart of the island.

She already knew where she wanted to go. There was one tall peak on the island. Some small mountain... no, a volcano! That place would surely give her a wonderful view of the island and the endless sea that surrounds it.

After weeks on the ship, having solid ground beneath her feet was a welcome change. The lush green jungle around the volcano greeted Yang with a plethora of targets to practice on. Most were snakes, who were stupid enough to try and bite her. A few of the larger insects were audacious as well, but they regretted their attacks just as quickly.  
Just as Yang had reached the foot of the volcano, something else crossed her path. A young girl, with ears like a cat. Just by the looks, she couldn't be much older than Yang herself. But her clothes were dirty and torn, her face slightly bruised. And the moment the girl saw Yang, she attacked.

She was swift and her attacks were precise enough to reveal prior training. But she was also dead on her feet, so the fight didn't last for long. All Yang had to do was deflect and evade the lightning-fast attacks. She received a few scratches but did not hit the strange girl back. Just by the looks of her, one overpowered punch would be enough to break her like a twig. Yang wasn't confident enough in her ability to use strength in moderation...

"I will not surrender," the girl growled, as she fell to the ground, utterly exhausted. "Stay away!"

"Hey, everything is alright. I'm not gonna hurt you."

"Liar! All you people do is hurt my friends and family," the girl shot back.

Yang frowned, as she looked at the girl. What had she stumbled upon here? She should probably get her grandfather, he would know what to do... which reminded her. Gramps was on his way to this island and he wasn't happy. She could already feel the headache she would have once he gets his hands on her... First, though, she would have to find out more about this girl.

"I am Monkey D. Yang, future Fleet Admiral!" she introduced herself with a bright smile and wild gestures. Bright and flashy, Captain Bogard had called her, just like the sun itself. "Who are you?"

The girl looked at Yang with wide eyes, disturbed by the loud and overbearing introduction. "I'm Blake..." the girl muttered.

"Nice to meet you, Blake. We really have to spar sometime. After you had good sleep and a few meals. You've got some awesome moves there," Yang praised. "So... will you tell me why you are here?"

"They came to my island and attacked my village. They want to sell me as a slave," Blake said. Her hands were clenched into fists as she hit the ground several times in sheer frustration. "Those damn pirates."

"Pirates?" Yang perked up as she heard this. Finally, something worthwhile to fight against. Beating up Gramps' lazy subordinates gets kinda boring after the first two or three hundred times. Only the officers really managed to hit back and defeat her. But pirates, this would be a chance to prove to her Gramps that she was finally ready to go out in the world and make a name for herself! "Let's go and get them. I'll show them not to mess with the future Fleet Admiral!"

"Are you insane? You're just a child!"

Yang grinned wickedly. Blake's words sounded like a challenge and she had always liked challenges. She looked around until she found what she had been looking for. Not far from her was a large boulder, big enough that no one would ever expect her to be able to move it. Not that moving it wasn't her intention in the first place. Instead, she walked towards it and did as her grandfather had taught her. With one quick punch, the stone crumbled into pieces.

"I'll manage," Yang said, as Blake looked at her with wide eyes. "Haki is such a great thing."

Blake couldn't find the words to reply to Yang's overconfident exuberance. Their short moment together did come to a quick end, though, as Blake's pursuers had caught up to her.

"Find that damn cat, she is worth a fortune! If you let her escape again, I will kill you all, you hear!"

Yang's easygoing smile vanished immediately, as she walked towards the origin of the voices.

"Just wait here, Blake, I'll deal with this."

"Why would you do this?"

"Because I am a Marine, a champion of justice," she replied simply, not looking at Blake.

"There she is!"

The pirates had finally found them. More than a dozen of them appeared on the scene. They looked ragged and dirty. Most of them were covered with cuts and bruises themselves.

Yang chuckled fondly, as she saw that Blake had given them hell when she had escaped them. Now it was her turn to teach them a lesson. She may be only eight years old, but no grandchild of Monkey D. Garp should ever be underestimated.

"Another one?" one of the pirates exclaimed.

"She's pretty enough, she will catch a good price as well. Get them both," their leader ordered.

Without further ado, the pirates attacked. Swords were drawn as they charged at her and dropped like flies.

Yang could only look at them with disappointment and disgust. Filthy pirates, not even worth the effort to beat them down. How could they be so weak as adults, when she was already this strong as a child?

"Just what are you, kid?" the leader demanded to know, as he saw his crewmen go down.

"I'm the one who will send you to Impel Down!" Yang replied, confident that she will also manage to defeat the pirate captain just like the rest of his crew.  
"No, wait! Don't attack him, Yang. He's..." Blake tried to stop Yang but was too late.

Brimming with confidence, Yang had already run towards the last remaining enemy.

She tried to punch him, as she had done with the rest of the crew. But as her fist connected with his belly, her arm went right through, all the way up to her elbow, until she was stuck and couldn't free herself.

"What are you?" Yang growled. It was almost as if she had tried to punch a puddle of mud.

The pirate chuckled darkly. "I'm your worst nightmare, girly." Then he punched her back. Only after the fifth solid hit, she somehow managed to free her arm and get away.  
"I'm not afraid of nightmares!"

She attacked again, this time aiming for his arms instead. Again her attack went right through, although she did not get stuck this time around. Instead, it looked as if she had severed his arm from his body. But almost instantly the mud grew and the arm was restored.

"Just go down already!" Yang yelled in frustration, as she tried to beat the pirate. Again and again, but each time her attack seemed to be utterly futile.

"It's no use," Blake yelled at her. By now the girl had managed to get back to her feet. And she looked ready to bolt, with the only thing holding her back being the concern for Yang's survival. "We have to flee!"

"I'm not good at running away," Yang replied, "I usually only go forward!"

But what choice did she have? This pirate captain was beyond her current abilities. She hates to admit it out loud, but there was no denying it... Her best bet would be to get back to the beach and hope that Gramps had decided to follow her himself.

"You're not going anywhere, little girl," the pirate laughed. "You will sell well at Sabaody! The fancy nobles like feisty slaves."

"I gotta puke," Yang exclaimed before she ceased her attempts to attack and ran away. She grabbed Blake and disappeared into the green wilderness of the island.  
Blake was hard pressed not to fall, as Yang kept her wrist in an iron grip and pulled her along.

For a short moment, Blake allowed herself to hope, as they reached the end of the jungle and the beach. From there they could see the battleship of the Marines. But just as they stepped onto the sand, the pirate captain had caught up to them.

"Your little friends won't be enough to save you from me!" the pirate boasted, "They can either run or die! I am far beyond their reach!" He cackled darkly, as he got ready to attack them once more.

Blake wanted to run again, just away from the seemingly unbeatable pirate, but couldn't as Yang still kept her wrist in her tight grip. And strangely enough, the Marine recruit actually grinned, as if she knew some big secret.

The pirate lunged at them, to beat them down. Sand and dust flew in every direction, blocking their sight.

As everything settled and Blake could see clearly once more, her eyes widened in shock. The pirate, seemingly unbeatable mere moments before, was down on the ground, in a large crater, beaten to a bloody pulp. Above him stood a man in a Marine uniform, his first still pressed against the pirates head.

Had this man just defeated the pirate with one punch? She had seen some of her family's best guards getting killed without landing a single hit, yet this man... no, this monster, had defeated the pirate with ease.

"What took you so long, Gramps?" Yang exclaimed, followed by a toothy grin.

Blake didn't know what to think anymore. Gramps? Was this man Yang's grandfather? It would explain her strength, but still...

Yang's expression changed, though, as her grandfather jumped at her and beat her to the ground, just as he had done with the pirate before.

"Watch how you talk to me, you brat!" the man yelled. "Do you know what trouble you have caused again by running away?"

"Ouch! That hurt, Gramps!" Yang complained as she put one of her hands on the spot where her grandfather had hit her. "And they started it!" she continued, as she pointed towards the Marines, who had slowly begun to reach the shore.

"What?"

"They tried to cut my hear! No one touches my hair!" Yang shot back.

Her grandfather looked torn as if he wasn't sure who to punish first. Some of the Marines had already spotted the dark look he sent them and had wisely turned around to swim back to the ship, to postpone their punishment.

"You are certainly more troublesome than your mother was at that age!"

"I'm more awesome, too!" Yang added. "Not like my deadbeat mom."

"Yeah, yeah," Garp sighed. "And who is your new friend?"

"Oh, this is Blake!" Yang said as she pulled Blake in front of her.

Blake couldn't shake the feeling that Yang was using her as a shield against her grandfather, to avoid further punishment.

"That guy and his crew wanted to sell her. They are pirates! But I beat them up. Well, all but him."

Garp had a closer look at Blake. When his eyes rested longer on her cat ears than she was comfortable with, she tried to push away from him. Yang kept her in place, though.

"You are a Faunus, are you not?" Garp asked her. Blake nodded wordlessly.

"Fau... what?" Yang asked.

"Faunus. They live on the islands of the Remnant Archipelago and are often targeted by slavers. Nobles pay a fair amount of coin at the slave market for them. Some keep them as pets, others use them for hard labor as they are usually stronger than average humans," Garp explained.

He then turned around and went back to the pirate. "You've got some nerve, pirate scum, to attack my little granddaughter. Not to mention that I really don't like slavers. You will spend a lot of time in a dark cell," Garp said.

The pirate was still awake and looked at Garp with fierce defiance.

"I don't think so! I've been contracted to bring good slaves to my masters," the pirate replied, as he pulled something from the pocket of his coat.

Garp had a long look at the thing in the pirate's hand, before he turned towards Yang and exclaimed, "We are leaving. Get back to the ship." He pointed towards the small rowboat, that some of his men had arrived in.

"And what about the pirate?" Yang demanded. "You are not letting him go, right?"

"Now, Yang!" Garp bellowed.

Yang looked defiant at first but knew better than to challenge her grandfather when he is like this. She grumbled angrily, before she stalked towards the boat, pulling Blake along.

"Do what you want, but I'm not leaving her here!" she exclaimed.

Garp didn't stop her. He spared the pirate one last disdainful look before he followed his granddaughter towards the boat.

What none of them had seen, though, was another lone figure hiding in the shadow of the jungle. The Faunus man had his sword in hand, his eyes never leaving Blake, as Yang helped her into the boat.

It was later that day, long after the sun had set, that Yang found her grandfather standing alone in the crow's nest of the ship. She was still angry with him for letting that slaver go and wanted answers.

Why had he allowed the pirate to escape? Why was there no punishment at all? They had allowed Blake to come along so they can bring her to a safe place, but her grandfather had been angry and tight-lipped ever since they had gotten back.

But Yang wanted answers and she was not in the mood to wait for her grandfather's mood to improve. So she joined him up in the crow's nest, for a much needed late night talk.

Garp ignored her at first. Only after her constant glaring in his direction annoyed him too much he barked at her.

"What do want now, Yang?"

"Why did you let that man escape. Haven't you seen the awful things he had done to Blake? Not to mention what he would have done to her, had I not been there to stop him?"

Garp sighed deeply and shook his head. He wasn't really angry anymore, but in a rather somber mood instead.

"That pirate had an official license to hunt for slaves. It was signed by one of the Celestial Dragons. It was legal, we had no choice but to let him go."

Legal... how can any of this be legal? Yang wanted to scream in frustration. This had been vile and evil. That pirate should have been locked away forever.

"Why? Are we not here to bring justice to the people? To defend them?"

"Sometimes we have to do things that we don't want to. Things we abhor. Things that are against our very nature. All for the sake of justice. I won't coddle you, Yang. I won't lie. Large parts of the Marines and the World Government are evil. By being Marines we sometimes have to support their crimes or protect them from the punishment they deserve."

"Then why should we serve the Marines at all? Why not leave and bring justice at our own terms?" Yang demanded to know. This was nothing like the great dream she had. There was no justice to be had here.

For the first time in their conversation, her grandfather turned around to look at her. He even knelt down so they would be on the same eye-level, as he answered her.  
"We do what we must as Marines because should we leave, there is no one left to protect the ideals and true mission of the Marines. Every single one of us counts because one day we will succeed and we will bring justice back to the Marines and the government they serve. It is easier to walk away, but our family never takes the easy way out. We do what is right and fight till the bitter end."

And she knew he was right. Evil or not, the Marines had a duty, a calling. It was her calling, too. Her own dream was not dead. She would still strive to become the best and strongest Marine in the world. She would become the Fleet Admiral and she would bring justice back to the world. No one would stop her. No pirate, no marine, not even the most corrupt official of the World Government.

* * *

 **And now they have a cat. Hopefully, she won't leave too many scratches on the ship's mast. Yang and Blake can be really good as a team and I really wanted them on this journey together, even as Marines. Yang is a Marine because of Garp and because she sees it as her duty. Blake just follows Yang for now and watches the world burn around her... And no, there will be no bumblebee romance in this story. I think they work better as close friends.**

 **Ruby will make her first appearance around chapter 4 or 5, for now, the story focuses on Yang's early years and on how she becomes a Marine. Ruby's path to becoming a pirate will be much quicker. And not to forget, both still need to find some Nakama for their adventures.**

 **But in the next chapter we will see some old friends. Yang and Garp visit a certain island for a small family reunion. Or rather, is it allowed to use your little cousin as a slingshot to hunt monsters?**


End file.
